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Gearshift
Gearshift '''(formerly '''Severe Tyre Damage '''and '''Strawberry Lumps) are an Portuguese/British/American rock band formed in London in 1990. Biography 1990-1992: Early years 1992-1996: Gearshift, The Desired Way ''and mainstream On August 12, 1994, the band released their second album The Desired Way'', which was preceded by the single "Do I Care About Thrash?", which criticised the thrash metal genre. Lead singer Michael Richards said about "Do I Care About Thrash?" in a 2000 interview on The Music Channel: : "Do I Care About Thrash?" was about the harder-meets-punk-meets-speed metal genre, which was more harder than pop metal. The reason is that the only thrash metal I really liked was Metallica. 1996-2000: Name change to Severe Tyre Damage, Severe Tyre Damage and Forth The band officially changed their name to Severe Tyre Damage. Because of this, the band switched their alternative rock sound to the then mainstream nu metal sound with the album Severe Tyre Damage. The album was promoted by the lead single "Sepultura", which references the Brazilian death metal band of the same name. Lead singer Michael Richards said about "Sepultura" in a 2006 interview with The Music Channel: : "Sepultura" was actually poking fun of death metal itself, not usually the band because I wasn't a fan of the very hard thrash metal sound that people call it "death metal", it's garbage. Because of this, Richards later peformed the Sepultura classic "Roots Bloody Roots" in form of an acoustic rock song in 2010. The album Severe Tyre Damage ''recieved mostly mixed to positive reviews, praising the nu metal sound but criticising the over-use of drums and guitars. The band continued to tour with an 18-month concert tour. In the next album ''Forth, the band switched to the post-grunge sound. In May 23, 1999, lead guitarist Jack Buzzkill and turntablist DJ Qwerty left the band to form pop punk/alternative metal band The Punch. Because of this, Gearshift replaced them with Mitchell Clarke and Caine Roberts, respectively, who would join the band as live members. 2000-2004: Back to Gearshift, Inch of a Shoulder, Following Your Name 2004-2010: Hiatus The band announced their hiatus on their website on January 12, 2004 with a message: :Dear Fans, :We will be taking an extended break after our greatest hits tour ends in September 1. Because of this, like one of our influences Malice Mizer, we are taking a long break, I don't know when we will come back, but we will come back one day. :Yours truly, :Michael The band performed their last gig before their hiatus on September 1, 2004 at Stamford Bridge in London. During their hiatus, Richards started his solo career with his debut Soloism ''in 2005, followed by four more albums: ''Redemption ''(2006), ''Cosmos ''(2007), ''Heartache ''(2008) and ''Delta ''(2009). 2010-2013: Name change to Strawberry Lumps, ''Strawberry Lumps and Foreclosure 2013-present: Back again to Gearshift and Here and There in Ba Sing Se Richards officially confirmed that the band has changed back to Gearshift on March 12, 2013. He said on his blog: : We are back to Gearshift because we decided that name changes are too irrelevant. Two days after the announcement, the band released a cover of the Guano Apes song "Lords of the Boards" to promote their forthcoming ninth album. The title was revealed as Here and There in Ba Sing Se on May 1, 2013 at 1:05am GMT on The Music Channel, following a month of the title contest. It was made up by fan Miranda Harper, who explained the album title as an homage to Avatar: The Last Airbender and Japanese synthpop/shibuya-kei band Pizzicato Five, whose last album is called Ça et là du Japon, which means Here and There in Japan when translated in English. Because of this, Harper won two free tickets to see Gearshift on their upcoming tour, a Microsoft Surface and a two-week holiday to Lisbon with £10,000 spending money. On May 5, 2013, Richards officially confirmed that Clarke and Roberts have officially joined Gearshift after 14 years as live members plus he has not ruled out a possibility of the original line-up reuniting. The album was released on May 25, 2013 to positive reviews. Musical style and influences Gearshift has been labeled as alternative rock, pop rock, post-grunge, power pop, glam metal, nu metal, punk revival, jangle pop and hard rock. They have cited Guano Apes, Nirvana, Bon Jovi, Faith No More, No Doubt, Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M, U2, Pizzicato Five, Linkin Park, Coldplay, Green Day and Joan Jett as influences. The band is known for setting the blueprints for Avatar rock. Members Current *Michael Richards - vocals, lead guitar (1986-present) *Diana Richards - bass guitar, backing vocals (1986-present) *Marcus Rodrigues - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1986-present) *Janet Rodrigues - keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1986-present) *Mitchell Clarke - turntables, rhythm guitar (2013-present, live member: 1999-2013) *Caine Roberts - keytar, lead guitar (2013-present, live member: 1999-2013) Former *Jack Buzzkill (born Jack Ronan) - lead guitar, keytar (1986-1999) *DJ Qwerty (born Quentin Ronan) - turntables, rhythm guitar (1986-1999) Discography ;Studio albums *''Gearshift (1992) *''The Desired Way ''(1994) *''Severe Tyre Damage ''(1996, as Severe Tyre Damage) *''Forth ''(1998, as Severe Tyre Damage) *''Inch of a Shoulder ''(2000) *''Following Your Name ''(2002) *''Strawberry Lumps ''(2010, as Strawberry Lumps) *''Foreclosure ''(2012, as Strawberry Lumps) *''Here and There in Ba Sing Se ''(2013) ;Compilation albums *''The Best of Gearshift: 1992-2004 (2004) *''The Outtakes (2011) ;Singles *The Music Channel Chart and The Music Channel Adrenaline Chart were previously called the Apparel TV Chart from 1990 to 2000. '''Outtakes'